Wednesday, December 19, 2012

As Democrats and Republicans come closer to a last-minute deal on the fiscal cliff, the voices from La-La Land intrude to remind Republicans that no compromise is acceptable.

Theteaparty.net, which bills itself as the nation's largest tea party advocacy group, sent out a press release today vowing to "primary" -- yes, they use it as a verb -- any Republican who supports House Speaker John Boehner's "Plan B" legislation. That bill would raise taxes on people making more than $1 million a year. The Club for Growth and the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation have also come out against "Plan B."

"Not one dime in new taxes, not one nickel in new spending, and for the love of God and the future of our country, not one red cent in new debt," blustered spokesman Bob Adams. "What's at stake here is nothing less than the future of the Republican party as a viable conservative political force."

Adams and spokesman Niger Innis say they'll try to dethrone Boehner and recruit candidates to run against any Republican who votes for Boehner's plan.

We don't want to give these folks any more credit than they deserve and it's entirely possible that congressional Republicans will ignore them and their silly petitions. They should, since Adams and Innis appear to be living in another world. They missed that tax rates are going up for everyone on Jan. 1 absent a deal. Boehner's plan to raise taxes only on those making more than $1 million a year prevents tax hikes on more than 99 percent of America. Besides, the Boehner plan is going nowhere; there's no indication President Obama and Democrats will agree to the $1 million threshold.

The tea party, which cost Republicans control of the Senate, continues to marginalize itself.

Plus they helped the Republicans gain more state legislative seats than at any time since the 1930's.

Republican's picked up more governorships this election and now have 30 governors.

Republican's have control of over 26 state legislative branches and picked super majority control of some 7 more state legislative branches.

Most likely the Republicans will gain even more seats in the up-coming non-presidential election year.

If the Republicans want to become the Republican Party of the 1970's where they were the lighter version of the Democratic Party and were minorities in a lot of places then they should trample on the Tea Party.

The Tea Party people are key group that helps Republicans win races.

If the Republicans embrace debt and taxes then they can kiss their election chances good-bye.

They have to make a good deal with Obama and the Democrats. It can't be all Obama.

That is one insulting editorial. Insulting to many voters who put Tea Party Republicans into office. Are you saying that Tim Scott is living in Lala Land? Are you saying that we shouldn't learn from the mistakes that were made in Europe?Another voice of the elites who reside in their $1 million houses and are out of touch with reality. But soon the money will run out and the agitated masses will come to get the elite one-percenters (Greece anyone?).

Wow, the voices of irrationality are vocal today. Of COURSE the Tea Party is out of touch. They were created to be exactly what they are by more than $100 million of Koch Brothers money. For guys like the Koch's, any dollar they pay in taxes is a dollar too much.

They employ legions of accountants to hide and shelter their vast incomes and buy Congressional largess in the form of deductions and exemptions in the tax code that allow them to pay taxes at a far lower marginal rate then the middle class family who actually still manages to produce the wealth and things of real economic value that these titans of finance buy, sell, and gamble with.

They get special exemptions that apply only to them written into the tax code. Like the infamous hedge-fund-manager break - that's how a guy like Mitt Romney pays federal income tax at half the rate of his secretary. And that doesn't count the cash he's got stashed offshore to avoid any tax whatsoever.

This is fair? This system designed, implimented, and propagated by the rich and powerful to tilt the playing field decidedly in their favor - this is fair?

It's been a 30 year experiment in income redistribution that has left the middle class stagnant and losing ground and the top 1% now holding a whopping 23% of the nation's total wealth. This is fair?

These are the people the Tea Party is defending. That's what it was created for. These are the people the Republican Party is defending. That's the only thing that matters to them anymore.

And why not? They're just defending the guys that give them those big campaign cash bonuses and those sweet revolving door jobs like...oh, say...president of the Heritage Foundation. Yeah, such principled men they are.

There has to be compromise folks and I am fine with Taxes going back to where they were under the Clinton Administration, and if I am correct that was the last time we actually had a balanced budget and a budget surplus, and back then if memory serves me correctly, we had a Republican Congress and a Democrat in the White House, the difference is there wasn't quite as much stigma as there is today. So in my mind taxes need to go up for everyone and we need to cut spending across the board. This is the only way we are going to get out of debt. It cannot be done, by just simply raising taxes or just by cutting spending, its going to require both. We as a people are going have to accept the reality that we are going to have to have slightly higher rates and we are talking slight here, for most folks going back to the Clinton tax rates are not going to end the world. In my opinion the sooner we accept the fact that if we want to pay back the biggest debt holder, which is ourselves, since the Social Security Adminstration need to redeem those bonds to pay benefits, we are all going to have to take a hit and the sooner we can accept that, the quicker we can move on. I am not saying we need to raise the rates overnight, but just as they were phased lower over Bush Administration, they need to be phased in higher over the Obama administration and whoever is elected next

WE need to look at deficits since Pelosi and Reid became leaders in 2007. To say that spending is out of control is an understatement. Fiscal responsibility is mandated to working families. Why is it not in the government? Because they think that they are better than us. That is plain and simple. Are they in our Social Security program...NO. Will they have the same health care that they passed behind closed doors for the rest of America...NO. Can they make insider trader deals on stocks...YES. You see....they get money the old fashioned way....extortion from the taxpayers. They pass laws for themselves as if they do not work for "We The People". It's not the freakin' Tea Party. They are trying to control spending. The mindless drone that wrote this article doesn't have a clue what is going on. Why don't you do a report on something you actually know about? That would be a report on half-a$$ reporters that act like they know something.

Hey Taylor, isnt the Tea Party clamoring for the same thing Dems were in 2008? Two peas in a pod?! because it sounds very similar to the Dems 2008 trumpet of "pay-go". Pay as you go just makes sense I remember Obama lecturing. Obama will get the deal hes holding out for but it will be at the expense of our countrys future fiscal solvency.

American voted for this divided Senate just this past election cycle. Deal with it.

In the meantime, stop drinking the kool-aid and realize the truth.

Obama wants to go over the fiscal cliff and could care less about fiscal restraint as it relates to spending.

His goal, come 1/1/13, is to act as if he's the middle class savior when taxes go up. If the republicrats have any sense they'll have a bill at the ready to extend the Bush tax cuts on 1/1/13 so Obama can't try and steal the tax issue for political gain.

This government....at every level...does NOT have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem.

Sadly, the Republicans who hold office in DC are nothing more than DIRC's (Democrats In Republican Clothing). If we actually had REAL Republican leadership in this country, that leadership would look the President in the eye and simply say "NO DEBT CEILING INCREASE".

That's it. No more debt. Sadly, the fake Republicans are clueless. All of the power rests in the hands of Boehner...but he is a joke.

A "No New Debt" pledge would FORCE Obama to live up to his 2008 and 2012 campaign promises to cut the debt. And that would force the President to actually submit a budget, and it would have to be a budget that includes MASSIVE spending cuts.

We MUST cut the size and spend of the federal government. It IS THAT simple.

No new debt, serious and meaningful spending cuts, and no more class warfare. That is the way forward.

Is the tea party's position extreme? Sure. Was Obama's offer to raise taxes, INCREASE spending with a new "stimulous" and force Congress to cede its constitutional right to control the debt ceiling MORE extreme. You bet!!

Nice to have a hometown newspaper that's the voice of reason in one of the most important debates of the last 3 decades. A tremendous disservice to the community.

And oh, I wish you understood the word unethical before you use it to try and marginalize an opinion to which you don't agree! The Tea Party IS out of touch on this issue and if you don't see that then you have spent VERY little time trying to truly understand this issue and way too much time visiting websites and listening to talking heads to which you share their opinions.

Keep on trying to marginalize opinions that don't mirror your own. It has gotten us so far over the last 4 years but ya still have a Democrat in the White House and a Senate under Democratic control, too, don't you? No one side is always right,people! The faster you embrace the idea of compromise the better things will go for all.

It amazes me that the same people who complain about the deficit and federal spending are the same people who want a strong national defense. Do these same people understand how much we spend on defense? Nearly 800 billion dollars a year (including homeland security). Don't believe me? Look it up yourself. Go to http://www.cbo.gov/publication/42636. By the way, the father of modern conservatism (ok, that would really be Barry Goldwater, but few people remember him, especially since he advocated for gays in the military) Ronald Reagan, tripled the national debt from 900 billion when he came in office to over 2.7 trillion when he left office. Huh? Guess he was a socialist too.

One last note... If we end up going over the cliff, spending goes down, revenue (taxes) goes up, debt goes down. Recession aside, sounds like the pain we need to go through that all of us ( liberals and neocons) created.

I have a nephew that is 35 and strong and able. Yet he is a deadbeat dad, and wont work. WE The PEOPLE are supporting him and his kids. We provide his healthcare, foodstamps, childrens healthcare, etc. My family works hard and for what? Cause he hates having a schedule and a boss.

Tea Party wants useless spending like this to be eradicated, to run the government like a good business and to get out of our bedrooms, business, private affairs, family business etc. How can anyone hat this?

bridg girl... I feel ya. But again, look at the budget. There is absolutely no way to balance without either, a) drastic cuts across the board to everything (including defense, actually, considering it is now 25% of our total budget, especially defense) without raising revenue. No one likes a dead beat but really everyone in the US has been taking advantage of our deficit spending for years. We want our services but we don't want to pay for it (just look at N.J. Gov Chris Christie, doesn't like fed spending but is now bitching about the fact that the US Gov't is only setting aside 60 billion for Hurricane Sandy). We have to face facts, we have to raise taxes and cut spending. It is what it is. Bitch all you want but it is going to take both approaches b/c both parties got us in this mess and we all (libs and conservatives) went along for the ride.

We didn't get a huge $1,600,000,000 deficit annually because we were not collecting enough tax money. We obtained all that debt because congress kept spending and borrowing to pay the interest. Now we have reached a point where the borrowing and spending has maxed us out and what do liberals want to do? Tax more and spend even more. WE CAN NOT TAX OUR WAY OUT OF THIS MESS, WE HAVE TO DO SOME SERIOUS CUTTING. If Obama is given the tax money he wants (all he has to do is turn down every plan offered by Republicans and the Bush tax cuts will expire) we will not be able to pay our debts long. All the money he wants from people making more than $250,000 a year will only pay for 8 days of Washington spending, we will still have to borrow money and tons of it. We have to cut, the tea party is right and as usual left wing liberals are flat out dumb and ignorant. One more thing, I am always amazed when liberals are concerned about the future of the Republican Party. In an effort to make two Democrat left wing parties they tell Republicans what they should do. Republicans simply have to grow a set, resist Obama, and hold out until 2016. I do not fear the left wing mouth running because garbage comes out all the time.

Obama wants all the Bush tax cuts to expire regardless of what he says. He is not interested in the middle class or any other class. He is interested in making this a socialist country and higher taxes will help him with his plan. He will turn down every offer from Republicans even if it matches exactly what he says he wants. No one is surprised he hasn't cut anything, simply saying he is willing to cut the rate of growth. That's going to happen anyway because we will not be able to borrow or tax enough to continue spending the way these guys want to do it. If I was Boehner I would simply walk up to the mic and say to the public one more time, the president does not want a deal, he wants everyone taxes to increase so I am not offering anything any more. You suckers voted for this jerk now live with his desires. Slowly I would walk away and would not worry about the next election. Representatives are elected by districts and the people there now will be there in the next election. There is little or NOTHING left wing liberals can do about it. The districts have been redrawn by Republican state legislatures so we will be ok next election regardless of what happens. In 2016 the nation will be in so much debt and taxes will not have curved it the nutjobs out there will be willing to vote for anyone talking about cutting because their free programs will be out of money, stranding them on a sea of people who believe in government aid first!

President Coverup promised to reduce the deficit by 1/2 by the end of the term but instead used this lie to get elected and then promptly spent us 6 trillion more in debt during which the yellow media clapped like mindless circus seals while blaming Bush and the GOP for everything that continues to do wrong under this hack of a President. This same "President" that called Bush "unpatriotic" for his 3.5 trillion in new debt for 8 years. It seems to me we the people and the real patriots called the Tea Party are just trying to hold President Coward to his own words but apparently this confuses the local sycophant who continue to shift the blame to anyone but President Beyonce.

I support cutting the military budget by about HALF. Why don't we start by ending the drone program that Obama has used to kill ~ 200 children in Pakistan? And bringing back the 400 Patriot missiles Obama just sent to Turkey? And bringing back the hundreds of military "advisors" Obama sent to Iraq? And rejecting Obama's record-setting military aid to Israel? And rejecting Obama's record-setting military budget in general?

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The Observer's editorial board cares deeply about Charlotte and the Carolinas, and has a problem with public officials who have forgotten that they report to citizens. Editorial page editor Taylor Batten and associate editors Peter St. Onge and Eric Frazier tackle politics and public policy issues locally, across the state and nation. Kevin Siers tackles those issues too in cartoons. Read their columns and biographical information on the CharlotteObserver.com Opinion page.